Hit Me Like a Ton of Bricks
by jellybean96
Summary: If there's one thing that Dani has never been, it's jealous. Her entire life, she can't ever remember one moment where she was jealous of anything or anyone around her. That's just never been the type of person she was. Until she met Malcolm Bright. Or, more specifically, until Malcolm started dating Eve Blanchard.


**Hey babes! Back again with a new Brightwell fic for ya! Wrote this one pretty quickly, but it took me a little while to actually come up with a title for it. This one is inspired by the idea that Malcolm and Eve are a thing for a while. I hope they aren't because Dani and Malcolm need to be a thing eventually.**

**Enjoy!**

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If there's one thing that Dani has never been, it's jealous. Her entire life, she can't ever remember one moment where she was jealous of anything or anyone around her. That's just never been the type of person she was. Maybe there were a few occasions where she wanted something that someone else she knew had, but she never once felt jealous. She never had that sick, sinking feeling in her stomach every time she looked at someone she wanted to be with spending all their time with someone else. She never drifted off in her mind when she wasn't busy, thinking about someone specific and wishing she could be the one they'd tell all their secrets to, and steal kisses from in the busier moments of life, and spend their nights with her just talking into the late hours. She's never been that girl.

Until she met Malcolm Bright. Or, more specifically, until Malcolm started dating Eve Blanchard. Or, even more specifically, until Malcolm and Eve were well into a relationship.

She doesn't even know why it snuck up on her the way that it did. She'd been perfectly fine just being his friend and colleague for so long and then one day...bam. It hits her hard. Without warning. She wants to be more than just friends with him. She wants all the things Eve gets with him.

She tried to push those thoughts down, tried to shove it all into a box in her head and never think about any of it again. But that was hard to do whenever Eve would surprise Malcolm at the precinct with food or something else sweet. They'd smile at each other and share a quick kiss. Sometimes Eve would whisper something in his ear that would make him laugh quietly or duck his head.

Every time she saw it, her stomach would churn and her face would get hot and she'd just want to be anywhere else but right there. She's never felt like that before. And she hated it. She was pining after another woman's man. She never wanted to be that person.

But for some reason, she just couldn't control herself. Every time she saw Eve make gooey eyes at Malcolm she wanted to gouge out her own eyes. Every time she saw them kissing she wanted to throw up. She hated it.

But it's not like she could really do something about it. It wouldn't do anyone any good for her to confess how she was feeling. She didn't even know how she was feeling. She didn't clock it as jealously until she'd overheard a conversation from some women at her usual coffee place. But of course, she internally denied it like crazy.

She hasn't been able to look Malcolm in the eyes the entire day. Not without wanting to do...something. And it was ten times worse when Eve showed up with lunch for Malcolm because she had a feeling he hadn't eaten. He hadn't, of course. But it made Dani's stomach churn that she couldn't even eat her own lunch. And she was really looking forward to that.

"Dani. You good over there?"

She looks up from her uneaten lunch to find JT watching her with a curious gaze, his brows knit tightly together. She pulls her lips in tight and nods. "Yeah, I'm good." She pushes her food away from her. "Just...apparently I'm not very hungry today."

"Alright. You'd let me know if something was up, though, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I promise I'm fine."

"Whatever you say. You wanna come with me to follow up on a lead?" he asks her, digging through a few different papers on his desk.

She glances over to see Malcolm and Eve engulfed in what appears to be a very thrilling conversation. And of course, she can't stomach it. She looks back at JT and gives him half a smile. "You know what? That sounds great. Let's go." She stands from her chair and grabs her jacket, following him through the bullpen. She doesn't give Malcolm a second glance as she walks past, though a shiver down her spine tells her that he was watching her go.

She fights every instinct to look at him, to give him the satisfaction. Not that he even knows what's going on. More than likely he has no idea and is completely oblivious to everything. She can deal with that, though. She'll be fine with it. She'll get over whatever this is eventually. She has to. She cannot keep going on like this.

"Hey, you good over there?"

She glances over to the driver's seat of the car where JT sits. She nods her head. "Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure? You've been off all morning. Hell, you've been off for a while now." He pauses, his brows furrowing together tightly. "Come to think of it...you've been off ever since Bright and Eve went public with their relationship, when they made things official between them."

She rolls her eyes, but inside her heart is pounding. "Shut up and keep driving."

"Nah, I'm serious. Something's definitely going on there."

"Nothing's going on."

"But you want something to be going on."

She sighs heavily and shakes her head, knowing it's of no use. He is a detective after all. He'll figure out what she's been trying to deny. "If I tell you what's going on will you drop it?"

"Depends on what you tell me?"

She takes a deep, shaky breath in, trying to find the right words. "Whenever...whenever I see Malcolm and Eve together I want to rip my hair out. I want to gouge my eyes out. I want to just...scream until I have no voice left."

"Uh-huh. Well, it sounds to me like you're a little bit jealous of Bright's girlfriend."

"No," she says with a quick shake of her head. "I don't get jealous. Never have, never will."

"Tell yourself whatever you want, Dani, I know what's really going on. You're jealous."

She ignores him for the rest of the drive, letting his words mull over in her mind. She thinks about his words, thinks about everything that's been happening. She really hates to admit it, doesn't want to be that person. But she is most definitely jealous.

.

.

.

Despite his every effort to have some semblance of a normal life, apparently, he couldn't even do that. He'd tried so hard, did everything he could to give Eve as normal a relationship as he could. But in the end, it wasn't enough. In the end, she broke his heart, confessed to him that she couldn't do it any longer. That she wanted to, but she didn't think that she could.

That was nearly a week ago now. He hasn't been to work since. He's never felt anything like this before. He's never given anyone the chance to break his heart before. And he doesn't like it. He doesn't know why people do this to themselves, willingly open themselves up to heartbreak. Falling for someone is terrible and he doesn't know why people let themselves do it. He really doesn't.

A sharp knock at his front door pulls him out of his head. He forces himself to get up off the couch and approach the door, already dreading it being his mother. He doesn't need the third degree right now. Then again, if it was his mother, she wouldn't have knocked. She would have found a way to let herself into his apartment.

Pulling the door open, he's only slightly taken aback by the sight of Dani on the other side. Partially due to the fact that it'd felt like she was going out of her way to avoid him whenever she could recently. He doesn't know what he did wrong, though.

"Bright?"

He shakes his head, focusing back on the present moment. "Sorry. Hi, uh, Dani. What are you...what are you doing here?"

She shrugs. "You haven't been on a case all week. I was worried. Gil said you just needed some time to yourself. Figured I'd stop by and see if you were okay. If this is a bad time, though, I can just—"

"No," he cuts her off quickly. "It's not a bad time. I mean...it is...but I…" He lets out a heavy sigh and then looks up at her with a polite smile, one that he's perfected over the years. "Come in, please." He steps back a little and allows Dani into his place, closing the door behind her.

"So...are you okay?" she asks him.

"Eve and I broke up," he blurts out before he really thinks about it. He doesn't know why he needs her to know, just that he'd feel wrong if he kept it from her.

She blinks once. "Oh."

He nods. "Yeah. She uh...she said that she couldn't do it anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Really. You deserve to be with someone who is going to love you and care for you. No matter."

"Yeah, well, I'm not so sure that's possible anymore."

"Maybe you're just not looking hard enough," she tells him with a small shrug.

He lets out a puff of air. "Maybe. But right now I don't think that I—"

"I like you."

His breath catches in his throat at her words. "What? You what?"

She takes a few small steps forward but doesn't get too close. "I like you, Bright." She huffs out a quick laugh. "I don't know why...but I do. And every time I saw you with Eve...it messed me up a little inside. I was...jealous. I never said anything until now because you were with her and I wasn't about to cause any trouble for either of you. I'm not expecting you to reciprocate, especially not after everything that happened, but I just needed to get it out there in the world. To let you know the truth."

"You like me?"

She nods. "Yeah. I do."

"That's...interesting," he tells her, his brows furrowing together tightly.

"Really?" She crosses his arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow at him. "I just confessed my feelings for you and you reply with 'that's interesting'? What's wrong with you?"

"A lot," he replies quickly. "Enough, I'm guessing, to drive away the woman that I possibly...could have really loved." He swallows thickly.

"She's a fool, then. You're a catch, Malcolm Bright. Even with all your...quirks."

"Eve didn't seem to be a huge fan of those in the end."

"Then, like I said, she's a fool. Your quirks are what make you who you are. Any woman who doesn't want to be with you because of that is obviously crazy."

"But you...you like me even with all my quirks?" he asks carefully and curiously.

She cracks a small smile. "I like you _especially_ because of your quirks."

He cracks his own smile. "Oh. Okay. That's uh...I think I can learn to live with that."

"Good." There's a quick beat of silence and he's worried for a moment about where things are going to go next. Before he can say anything, though, Dani shifts on her feet, sliding her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "So uh...I guess I'll just...go, then…" She gestures to the door with her head, taking a small step backward.

He reaches a hand out instinctively, his eyes going wide. "Wait. Stay." He curses internally and pulls his hand back, giving her what he hopes is a soft smile. "I mean...it's late. You shouldn't be driving home right now. Take my bed, get a good night's sleep and you can go home in the morning. I'll take the floor."

"But what about your...you know." She gestures offhandedly to the headboard of his bed.

"I think I can...manage one night without using them," he tries to convince himself. "Shouldn't be too difficult. My demons aren't as loud as they once were."

"You don't need to sacrifice using your restraints because of me, Malcolm. I don't mind sharing the bed."

"Are you...are you sure?"

She nods with a small smile. "Yeah. I'm sure."

"Okay. Eve always seemed a little put off by them, even though she tried to hide it. I could tell, though."

Dani's face pinches together and he instantly regrets his words. "Bright? Do me a favor and don't talk about your ex-girlfriend while I'm around."

"Right, of course."

They spend the next few minutes situating themselves, trying to get comfortable in bed; him in his restraints and her lying next to him. It's a bit awkward at first, but eventually, they both drift off to sleep.

And when he wakes in the morning, with Dani's head on his chest and one arm over his torso, he discovers with a smile on his face that it's the first night in a very long time that his demons haven't haunted him while he slept. He could certainly get used to more nights like that.

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**So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

**Also...I probably won't be able to watch the new episode until a few days later so please don't say anything about it in the reviews if you're reading this after the episode airs. Thank you!**

**Until next time,  
Jellybean96 out!**


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